holy day

Saw the play Holy Day today as a birthday treat. Another play written by Andrew Bovell, the same guy who wrote Speaking with Tongues. Definitely one of the most harrowing stage experiences. I had to rest in the loos afterwards and have a cry, and then walk around The Rocks for a while before I felt up to catching the train home. Pamela Rabe was excellent in the lead role of Nora. The play is set in mid-19th century Australia. Three men arrive at a halfway house run by Nora and her adopted aboriginal daughter, Obedience. Then the missionary’s wife turns up claiming the local Aborigines have murdered her husband and stolen her baby girl. Another Aboriginal girl appears and is accused of stealing the child. From there it descends into darkness, with peadophilia, rape, religion at its worst, and everything else in between. It was good, but I feel like I’ve lost something. Innocence perhaps.